Review of on Goodreads.com from Jennifer

This was a great memoir of a 19 year old struggling with crystal meth addiction. Often, addiction memoirs are hit or miss, as the ppl writing them are not actual WRITERS. However, Scott Sterling could have fooled me! This book has recurring themes, a distinct voice, great character development, and is written in the format of dated entries, like a diary, adding to the immediacy of the plot.

It is 1996 in New York City. Scott is 19, and has a core group of friends but no ambition or career or college dreams. In 1996, I was 16 years old, and absolutely recognized this late 1996/97 world he describes. Especially- the music. Oh, the music. Music (esp grunge, punk and alternative) was amazing at this time (a GREAT time to be 16!) and Scott adds a ‘soundtrack’ to his life, peppering his adventures with details and lyrics of the songs that are playing at pivotal moments of his ‘adventures’, and he and his friends also attend many concerts. Also, he makes note in his entries every time a singer/performer dies IRL from drugs or violence. And it happened a lot in 1996-97…(singers/musicians for Blind Melon, Sublime, STP, Smashing Pumpkins, etc). I too, remember crying over these tragedies and it helped establish the setting perfectly.

I could not, however, give this a 5 star rating because of the terrible ending. After a great read full of details from almost every single day of his life between ’96-’97, the ending/recovery phase of the book lasts a total of 3 measly pages! He sums up 375 days in 3 pages! After going on this crazy ride with the author, you really want to know MORE about just HOW he was able to overcome his problems, and he denies us that story….unless he is going to save that for a sequel?? Even so, not cool, dude. –Jen from Quebec :0)

Click here to read the review of Teenage Degenerate on Goodreads.com.